Bio : Born 1977 in Tbilisi, Georgia, part of the former Soviet Union. Lives and works in Berlin, Germany, Rotterdam, The Netherlands and Tbilisi, Georgia.
Description : How far does one want to, or is able to, see the other side of the coin, the side that doesn’t fall within one’s own perception? Sophia Tabatadze‘s video is about how we perceive and interpret the world from our own standpoint only, how we see and experience everything through our thought processes. Sides change constantly and dramatically over short periods of time, whether it concerns people, architecture or the social and political situations of differing countries. In 2004, when ten new member states joined the European Union, a group of Dutch architects and artists, interested in the Soviet and Post-Soviet architecture and present living conditions, went on a study trip to Central and Eastern Europe. For Tabatadze, as a Georgian artist, travelling with the group of Dutch architects it was very confronting: it was the first time that she realized how the whole Eastern Block was viewed by the West. The prejudice of “it is only grey there”, was very present. The video was shot in a hotel room at the end of the trip, to be shown to the rest of the participants. Questions in the video are based on the comments and questions made during the trip.